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Batman
(1989)
In Tim Burton's influential and dark blockbuster about
the comic-book superhero, featuring Anton Furst's revolutionary,
Oscar-winning art direction/set design of a Gotham City (part Blade
Runner, part comic book) with massive architecture and statuary:
- the opening credits featuring Danny Elfman's memorable,
brooding march score when a Batman logo was revealed
- the first appearance of black-masked vigilante Batman
(Michael Keaton), who held up a crook named Nic (Christopher Fairbank)
over the side of a building; after the mugger begged for his life
("Don't kill me!") - Batman made a request: ("I'm
not going to kill you. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to
tell all your friends about me") - the mugger asked: "What
are you?"
- and heard back: ("I'm Batman!")
- the reappearance of growling mob enforcer Jack Napier
(Jack Nicholson) after he had been dropped into a vat of acid during
a raid on the Axis Chemical Company; he had submitted himself to
reconstructive facial plastic surgery; in the famous, oft-imitated
'reveal' scene, Jack (seen from behind, with face hidden) demanded
a mirror from the flustered doctor after the facial bandages had
been unwrapped; upon looking at his face in the mirror, he moaned
and groaned at first as the nervous doctor rationalized: "You
understand that the nerves were completely severed, Mr. Napier" -
before Jack laughed maniacally and smashed the mirror, as the doctor
pointed to his tray of crude instruments: "You see what I have
to work with here"
- the sequence of sociopathic Jack Napier's first memorable
entrance (and revelation of his face) as the reinvented character
of The Joker (with a painted red smile, chalky skin and green hair),
when he came upon mob boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance) from behind
- he sought revenge and explained his new name and identity: ("You
set me up over a woman. A woman!...I've been dead once already. It's
very liberating if you think of it as therapy...Jack? Jack is dead
my friend. You can call me Joker! And as you can see, I'm a lot happier!");
the Joker then shot Grissom during a wild dance, emptied his gun,
and then laughed and sighed non-chalantly: "Oh, what a day!"
- the post-coital moment when blonde photographer-journalist
Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) woke up to see love-interest - billionaire-industrialist
Bruce Wayne (also Michael Keaton), the alter-ego of Batman, swinging
like a bat while doing his exercises
- the many classic one-liners by the cackling, villainous
Joker: ("Winged freak terrorizes? What'll they get a load of
ME!", "Where does he get those wonderful toys?", and "If
you gotta go, go with a SMILE!")
- the Joker's murder of disloyal, impudent rival subordinate
Antoine "Tony" Rotelli (Edwin Craig) with a lethal joy-buzzer
that burned him to a crisp: ("Whoo! Whoo! Oh, I've got a live
one here! Oh, there'll be a hot time in the old town tonight. Antoine
got a little 'hot' under the collar....Haven't you ever heard of
the healing power of laughter?")
- the confrontational challenge between the Joker and
Bruce Wayne in Vicki's apartment, as the Joker held a gun on him: "Tell
me something. You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?...I
always ask that of all my prey! I just like the sound of it";
after shooting at Bruce (who was saved by wearing body armor), the
Joker added: "Never rub another man's rhubarb. Why is it, every
time I come for you [Vicki], somebody always gets in the way?";
he then recited a poem to the terrified Vicki: "I'm only laughing
on the outside / My smile is just skin deep / If you could see inside
I'm really crying / You might join me for a weep"
Joker to Bruce Wayne:
"You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?"
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- the flashback in which Bruce Wayne remembered his
parents being murdered by Jack - who used the same line: "You
ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?"
- Vicki's scary ride through a dense forest in the Batmobile
en route to the Batcave, when she tentatively asked: "Where
are we going?"
- the ironic silhouette of the Batplane against the
moon to form the Batman logo
- the death of the Joker - plunging from the top of
a cathedral spire with a gargoyle attached after his climactic duel
with Batman, and the macabre sight, after the Joker's fall, of his
still-grinning face as he laid dead, splayed on his back on the church's
front steps many stories below - a toy (in proxy for the villain)
was heard laughing maniacally in his pocket
- the final scene in which Commissioner James Gordon
(Pat Hingle) announced: "Our police have rounded up all of the
Joker's men. The reign of crime is over. Public safety in Gotham
City is no longer a laughing matter"; District Attorney Harvey
Dent (Billy Dee Williams) then read a letter from Batman promising
to defend Gotham City against crime: "We've received a letter
from Batman this morning. 'Please inform the citizens of Gotham that
Gotham City has earned a rest from crime. But if the forces of evil
should rise again, to cast a shadow on the heart of the city, call
me'" - Gordon unveiled a new Bat-Signal to be used to summon
Batman
- the ending closing shot of Batman standing alone
in a heroic pose on the top of a city building, the guardian of his
Gotham City, looking up at the Bat-Signal projected onto the night
sky
The Bat-Signal Above Gotham City
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"I'm Batman"
Face-Scarred Jack With Doctor
Jack/The Joker to Carl Grissom: "You can call me
Joker"
"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"
The Joker's Murder of Tony With a Lethal Joy-Buzzer
Flashback of the Waynes' Murder
Death of Joker With Grinning Face
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